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Drylands cover nearly half of the earth’s land surface and are home to one-third of the global population. They face extraordinary challenges, including those posed by desertification, biodiversity loss, poverty, food insecurity and climate change. Up to 20 percent of the world’s drylands are degraded, and people living there are often locked into a vicious circle of poverty, unsustainable practices and environmental degradation. It is clear that serious efforts are needed to arrest dryland degradation and restore degraded lands, and the simple but urgent aim of these guidelines is to support such efforts. It is the first time that global guidelines on [...]

Burkina Faso has succeeded in achieving the Maputo Declaration target by allocating at least 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture almost every year since 2003. Most of these expenditures have been allocated to support the production of cotton, one of the country’s main exports, through input subsidies and minimum prices to producers. However, a large portion of the country’s agricultural investments as well as social safety net programmes remain heavily dependent on donor funding. For more country policy briefs by FAPDA please see here.

Disasters and crises undermine development. Natural disasters have affected more than 2.7 billion people over the last decade. More people face hydrometeorological hazards (for example, floods, droughts, storms and wildfires) and geological hazards (for example, earthquakes and landslides) than ever before. The intensity and frequency of natural disasters is increasing, compromising sustainable development by affecting livelihoods and threatening food security and nutrition. Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture are among the most exposed and affected sectors. Existing risk reduction and management measures need to be improved and scaled up. Many countries are poorly equipped to prevent, prepare and mitigate the impacts of current extremes and risks, including [...]

Over the coming 35 years, agriculture will face an unprecedented confluence of pressures, including a 30 percent increase in the global population, intensifying competition for increasingly scarce land, water and energy resources, and the existential threat of climate change. To provide for a population projected to reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and support changing dietary patterns, estimates are that food production will need to increase from the current 8.4 billion tonnes to almost 13.5 billion tonnes a year. Achieving that level of production from an already seriously depleted natural resource base will be impossible without profound changes in our food [...]

The aim of this policy brief is to increase awareness among policy makers and the general public about the vital role of tropical forests in providing environmental services and the increasing need for beneficiaries to compensate forest owners or managers for those services. The brief builds on the insights gained at the International Forum on Payments for Environmental Services of Tropical Forests, which was held in San José, Costa Rica, in April 2014. It sets out the rationale for, and the constraints faced by, PES schemes, and key recommendations for scaling them up.

As renewed international efforts are needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the livestock sector can contribute its part. An important emitter of greenhouse gas, it also has the potential to  significantly reduce its emissions. This report provides a unique global assessment of the magnitude, the sources and pathways of emissions from different livestock production systems and supply chains.  Relying on life cycle assessment, statistical analysis and scenario building, it also prov ides estimates of the sector’s mitigation potential  and identifies concrete options to reduce emissions. The report is a useful resource for stakeholders from livestock producers to policy-makers, researchers and [...]

The aim of the Toolkit is to showcase concrete examples of good practices for food loss and waste reduction, while pointing to information sources, guidelines and pledges favoring food wastage reduction.

Gender equality is central to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations’ (FAO’s) mandate to achieve food security for all by raising levels of nutrition, improving agricultural productivity and natural resource management, and improving the lives of rural populations. FAO can achieve its goals only if it simultaneously works towards gender equality and supports women’s diverse roles in agriculture and rural development. Gender equality is not only an essential means by which FAO can achieve its mandate, it is also a basic human right. Available in French and Spanish.

هذه الخطوط التوجيهية هي أول صكّ عالمي شامل خاص بالحيازات وإدارتها يُعدّ من خلال مفاوضات حكومية دولية. وتضع هذه الخطوط التوجيهية مبادئ ومعايير مقبولة دولياً للممارسات المسؤولة لاستخدام الأراضي ومصايد الأسماك والغابات وللتحكّم بها. وهي تعطي توجيهات لتحسين الأطر القانونية والتنظيمية والمتصلة بالسياسات التي تنظّم حقوق الحيازة ولزيادة شفافية نظم الحيازة وإدارتها ولتعزيز القدرات والإجراءات التي تتخذها الأجهزة العامة ومؤسسات القطاع الخاص ومنظمات المجتمع المدني وجميع المعنيين بالحيازات وإد ارتها. وتُدرج هذه الخطوط التوجيهية إدارة الحيازات ضمن السياق الوطني للأمن الغذائي وهي تسعى إلى المساهمة في الإعمال المطرد للحق في غذاء كافٍ والقضاء على الفقر وحماية البيئة وتحقيق التنمية الاجتماعية [...]

This report aims to provide a conceptual framework to address food security under conditions of water scarcity in agriculture. It has been prepared by a team of FAO staff and consultants in the framework of the project `Coping with water scarcity: the role of agriculture?, and has been discussed at an Expert Consultation meeting organized in FAO, Rome in December 2009 on the same subject. It was subsequently edited and revised, taking account of discussions in the Expert Consultation and materia ls presented to the meeting. The document offers views on the conceptual framework on which FAO's water scarcity programme [...]